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← Ricnic

2023-12-31-accounts

RICNIC ACCOUNTS AND ANNUAL REPORT 2023 CHARITY NUMBER: 1158837

Trustees' Annual Report for the period

From Period start date To[Period end date ] 01 January 2023 31 December 2023

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name RicNic

Other names charity is known by RicNic

Registered charity number (if any) 1158837

Charity's principal address

72 Mill Road Pelsall Walsall Postcode WS4 1BU

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Dates acted if not for whole Name of person (or body) entitled Trustee name Office (if any) year to appoint trustee (if any) 1 Ben Cahill- Nicholls Chair n/a n/a 2 Nicholas Morris Trustee n/a n/a 3 Sam Oladeinde Trustee n/a n/a Trustee n/a n/a

Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

Name Dates acted if not for whole year
n/a
n/a

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser Name Address n/a n/a n/a

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Jennifer Holyhead (Executive Director),

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Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document

[Constitution ]

How the charity is constituted

[CIO ]

Trustee selection methods

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

● policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;

RicNic is run under the Constitution signed in 2014 as part of the incorporation of RicNic as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).

Section C Objectives and activities

  1. To improve access to the creative arts for young people especially and for society more generally. Summary of the objects of the 2. To help and educate young people in order that they develop their charity set out in its governing capabilities and skills, and grow to increased maturity. document 3. Where appropriate, to work with and support the work of other organisations to further the charitable objects and mission central to RicNic. RicNic seeks to fulfil its objects for the public benefit by: (a) Facilitating courses, projects and workshops : this principally involves organising annual musical theatre productions in the summer Summary of the main activities holidays for young people to run as actors, musicians, producers, undertaken for the public directors, technicians, set designers and other company members to work benefit in relation to these together as part of a team to produce high-quality performances open to objects (include within this the public. section the statutory (b) Delivering outreach programmes : working with schools, colleges declaration that trustees have and community groups throughout the year to deliver workshops and had regard to the guidance support sessions helping young people to develop their creative skills. issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit) In facilitating these programmes the Trustees have regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit.

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

n/a

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

● policy on grantmaking; ● policy programme related investment;

● contribution made by volunteers.

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Section D Achievements and performance

Project Activity

New Work – Where The Bees Fly

2023 saw RicNic’s most ambitious project delivery to date, with a new initiative in Walsall aiming to bring together all 4 strands of our core programme under one large community project. Where The Bees Fly incorporated youth-led performance, commissioned new writing, community engagement workshops and schools activities. Bringing in many new funders and establishing new links in the local area, the Bees project ran over a number of months and proved to be a successful departure from our previous work. This project formed the main focus of our work for the first 6-7 months of the year, having been predominantly funded by grants raised in the previous year. A full report can be found in the appendixes to this document. Our evaluation video can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/YKK-7YdUcPY

Alumni Cabaret

In May 2023, members of RicNic’s alumni came together to stage their own cabaret event at the Seven Dials Playhouse, London. En Femme, En Homme gave opportunities for emerging theatre directors, producers and performers to create work for a London venue, adding to their CV with vital leadership skills. This event was produced in aid of RicNic as a pilot event for wider alumni fundraisers. The aim is to produce an event on an annual basis, which allows alumni freedom to create work that interests them ,while generating unrestricted income for RicNic.

Ongoing Projects – Summer Musical Productions

Our summer holiday musical productions returned this summer, running in three locations during August 2023. This year saw the return of RicNic Cheshire following their inaugural production in 2022. Moving from their original location at the Lyceum Theatre, the Cheshire company opted for a more site-specific production of the ‘25[th] Putnam County Spelling Bee’ at Malbank School. RicNic Burton returned to their regular home at The Brewhouse Theatre Burton on Trent, playing to large audiences with their production of ‘Grease’. RicNic Hampshire returned for a second year to the Hangar Farm Arts Centre, staging ‘High School Musical’ with a predominantly new company who were joining RicNic for the first time. Rising venue and production costs this year meant that there was more pressure on the young teams to meet budget targets. This led to staff time being more stretched as they tried

to support where they were required. It also contributed to increased stress levels and mental health concerns amongst participants than we have seen previously. The future of the summer musicals was discussed at length in the final quarter of the year, particularly around safeguarding our beneficiaries, ensuring that they are a positive and unique experience, and ensuring that they are financially viable.

Organisational Development

RicNic’s Executive Director was on maternity leave from December 2022 – September 2023, with a maternity cover role working part time during those months. Other staff contracts were increased in hours to compensate. Thanks to ongoing funding, we were also able to engage 8 short-term interns who supported across our project delivery and office administration.

Fundraising

The impact of a larger project delivery in the first part of the year, compounded by the reduction in staff time and inherent expertise triggered by the maternity leave period, meant that our fundraising activities and grant funding applications did not receive as much attention as they had previously. The Trustees agreed a number of Keeping In Touch days for our Executive Director, which were used in May/June/July to work on drafting a large grant funding application for funds in 2024. This application was finalised and submitted after the Executive Director returned to post in September 2023 and was subsequently agreed as multi-year funding for 2024/25 (funds received in 2024 accounts).

With the exception of a few smaller grant funds, this was the only major application made during the year which meant that fundraising levels dropped considerably. The rising costs of staging productions meant that ticket sale income margins were also comprised for our summer shows. By September 2023, the trustees and management team concluded that fundraising levels had dropped below RicNic’s reserves threshold and emergency measures were triggered.

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Emergency Measures

Trustees voted to pause all project delivery for the foreseeable future and to focus on reworking the charity’s strategy and fundraising approach. While this did not require cancellation of any ‘in progress’ work at this stage, the team took the early decision not to run large summer musical productions for summer 2024. The process for these projects requires recruitment of participants from October onwards and it was deemed unfair to start a recruitment process without guaranteeing the end result would be achievable. From September to December the focus was shifted to fundraising and to reviewing the charities work and expenditure. This was accompanied by monthly board meetings to monitor the financial situation and to plan for a range of courses of actions, from continuing operations to full charity closure. By November 2023, the charity trustees voted to continue with staffing and monthly monitoring through to March 2024 (Easter) to allow time for grant applications with long decision periods to be confirmed or denied. See Section F for a follow-up to this.

Section E Financial review

Section E Financial review Financial review Financial review
Brief statement of the charity’s
policy on reserves
The financial reserves of RicNic are currently held in a bank account with CAF
Bank, designed for charities and run by the Charities Aid Foundation.
RicNic aims to hold a minimum of 12 months of salary and running costs (non-
project) as unrestricted reserves each year, currently amounting to £50,000 per
annum. This is to enable the charity to commit to staffing and project delivery for
its beneficiaries in advance, as many of our projects run over a few months in
duration.
As mentioned in Section D, during 2023 our reserve levels dropped below this
preferred level, triggering additional action. At 31stDecember 2023, RicNic’s
unrestrictedreserveswere £30,000.
Details of any funds materially in
deficit
n/a
Further financial review details (Optional information)
Youmay chooseto include additional
information, where relevant about:
●
the charity’s principal sources of
funds (including any fundraising);
●
how expenditure has supported
the key objectives of the charity;
●
investment policy and objectives
including any ethical investment policy
adopted.
Income
The principal sources of funds are (i) the ticket revenues from productions
facilitated by RicNic (ii) donations from individuals and institutions interested in
supporting RicNic (iii) Trusts and Foundations via grant applications.
Trusts and Foundations
Grants from trusts and foundations have for the past 5 years formed the majority
source of our income, particularly with the disruption of Covid-19 on live events
having an impact on our annual ticket sales income.
Since developing this fundraising strategy in 2019 to match the expanded
programme of activity we offer, RicNic’s grant income from trusts and
foundations has seen a considerable increase:
2018: £0
2019: £7996
2020: £25,296
2021: £64,888
2022: £64,546
2023: £7990.39
This year however, while our main projects were supported by grants confirmed
and received in the previous tax year, thereby allowing them to run, RicNic saw
a considerable reduction in income from trusts and grants
Of the £7990.39 received this year, £1090.39 was unrestricted funding.
The remaining £6900 income was restricted to specific project delivery. Some of
the income received for the project grants was for projects running into 2024.
Earned Income		 The financial reserves of RicNic are currently held in a bank account with CAF
Bank, designed for charities and run by the Charities Aid Foundation.
RicNic aims to hold a minimum of 12 months of salary and running costs (non-
project) as unrestricted reserves each year, currently amounting to £50,000 per
annum. This is to enable the charity to commit to staffing and project delivery for
its beneficiaries in advance, as many of our projects run over a few months in
duration.
As mentioned in Section D, during 2023 our reserve levels dropped below this
preferred level, triggering additional action. At 31stDecember 2023, RicNic’s
unrestrictedreserveswere £30,000.
n/a
Income
The principal sources of funds are (i) the ticket revenues from productions
facilitated by RicNic (ii) donations from individuals and institutions interested in
supporting RicNic (iii) Trusts and Foundations via grant applications.
Trusts and Foundations
Grants from trusts and foundations have for the past 5 years formed the majority
source of our income, particularly with the disruption of Covid-19 on live events
having an impact on our annual ticket sales income.
Since developing this fundraising strategy in 2019 to match the expanded
programme of activity we offer, RicNic’s grant income from trusts and
foundations has seen a considerable increase:
2018: £0
2019: £7996
2020: £25,296
2021: £64,888
2022: £64,546
2023: £7990.39
This year however, while our main projects were supported by grants confirmed
and received in the previous tax year, thereby allowing them to run, RicNic saw
a considerable reduction in income from trusts and grants
Of the £7990.39 received this year, £1090.39 was unrestricted funding.
The remaining £6900 income was restricted to specific project delivery. Some of
the income received for the project grants was for projects running into 2024.
Earned Income

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Income on ticketed performances has varied in recent years, with the figures post-pandemic showing the demonstrable change in audience attendance compared to 2018/2019. This year saw an increase in ticket sales on the previous two years. This was partly due to an increase in audiences at summer productions compared to previous years, and partly due to additional cabaret events and the Where The Bees Fly production bringing in income at different times of the year.

2018: £25,329 2019: £22,260 2020: £0 2021: £325.50 2022: £4787.20 2023: £12,343.50

Expenditure RicNic’s principal expenditures are (i) costs relating to productions, such as show licencing, theatre hire, marketing materials and set / costume costs, (ii) staff salaries and office operation costs, and (iii) costs relating to outreach programmes.

Section F Other optional information

A Note on 2024 Finances – August 2024

Despite being in a precarious position with funding at the end of the last financial year, we have been successful in raising income through grants, online campaigns and events in the first 6 months of 2024 totalling £110k+. Some of the grants included in this are multi-year grants supporting core costs, some £30k is funding for delivery and core costs in 2025 and the remainder is for projects in 2024. Up to March 2024, the Board continued regular monthly monitoring meetings and mapped out the changing options for continuing and closing the charity. Further consultations in April and June confirmed that we had returned to our previous cash flow levels and that there was scope for us to continue. Projects resumed in April but with a different approach, ensuring less pressure is put onto participants, there is less financial risk and the team can better manage the workload.

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Full name(s) Natalie Haslam Hannah Lindsey Position Trustee Trustee Date 14/10/2024

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Balance Sheet RicNic As at 31 December 2023 31 DEC1023 Fixed Asset5 Tan l)le Assets Office EqvlprT￿t TotalTan8ibleAssets 566.29 566.29 TotalFlxedAssets 56&29 CurrentK%sets Cash atbank ar¥J In hand Pleo account 1.993.72 RicNicTrust- CAF Totalcash atbank and In hand 34.588.59 36,582.31 TotalCurrentAssets 36.58131 Net CurrentAssets (Liabilities) 36.58131 Total Assets less Current Liabilities 37,148.60 NetAssets 37,148.60 Ca ital and Reserves Currentyear Eèmings Retained Earnings Totslcapttal afvj Reser 171.939.281 109,087.88 31,1￿60 TAR

Profit and Loss RicNic Forthe yearended 31 December 2023 Twnover 99.9T 24LOJ 1234 ¢mss Profit Athnini5trati¥e Costs &￿rtI￿n6￿mIrk￿l 7JMOS Hiif£cx 1.9DI ra￿¢ IJM71 JJJ&io Printiry& Stabcmy 1gJTr.35 s￿￿r￿s QC•J 9)￿.$8 94JSL57 OptrnVncPNJft Proffton OrdinaryActi%iDe5 BefDreTaxation TAR

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